Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment to strike section 453 from the underlying bill. Section 453 restricts funds from being used to establish a national monument pursuant to the Antiquities Act in several Western counties, including Maricopa County in Arizona, a portion of which I represent in Congress. I understand the Member who inserted this language into the bill during committee consideration is generally opposed, if not totally opposed, to the use of the Antiquities Act. This section restricts the use of the Antiquities Act on over 160 million acres of public land, nearly one-quarter of all Federal land in the lower 48. I know that many of the Members of Congress who represent these areas do not support this blanket restriction on the use the Antiquities Act. So that we are absolutely clear, these monuments can be established only on land already owned by the Federal Government. This is how Federal lands should be preserved. It is not about adding more land to the Federal estate. Since Theodore Roosevelt's designation of the first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, 16 Presidents from both parties have used the Antiquities Act to protect more than 160 of America's best known and most loved landscapes; only 3 Presidents have not.…”